Rā's al Ghūl (DC Animated Universe)
Rā's al Ghūl (قشس شم لاعم in Arabic, translated in English to Head of the Demon) was a eco terrorist that lead a secret society called the Society of Shadows and prolonged his life by seven hundred years through the use of Lazarus Pits. His main goal was to preserve the Earth at all cost even if it meant killing everyone on the planet. Origin 'Rā's al Ghūl (at this time going by his unknown real name) was born over seven hundred years ago to a tribe of nomads in the Arabian Peninsula. At a young age Rā's becomes interested in science and abandons his tribe to live in the city, where he can conduct scientific research. He becomes a doctor and marries a woman named Sora, the love of his life. Rā's discovers the secret of the Lazarus Pit, and saves a dying prince by lowering him into it. The prince who is sadistic to begin with is driven completely insane by the Lazarus Pit. The prince then strangles Sora (whome he as well had his eye on). The sultan blames Rā's for what happened to his son and has Rā's placed in a cage with Sora's corps. Rā's is set free by the son of a dying elderly woman, whome Rā's had earlier examined. Rā's and the son head into the desert to seek the tribe of Rā's birth. Rā's convinces the head of the tribe, his uncle, to follow Rā's on a quest for revenge by promising the downfall of the sultan. By understanding the germ theory of desease hundreds of years before anyone else, Rā's is able to infect the prince with a deadly virus by sending him contaminated fabrics. When the sultan comes to Rā's for a cure, Rā's kills both him and his son. Rā's then leads his tribe to the city to and kills all of its inhabitants. Rā's then declares himself "Rā's al Ghul, the Demon's Head." Sometime later Rā's forms the Society of Shadows and has two children Talia al Ghūl and Arkady Duvall. ' ''' '''1883 '''In 1883 Rā's al Ghūl learned that the United States had planed to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Because the land they were building it on was untouched Rā's planed to preserve the environment with the help of his son Arkady Duvall and an early version of the Society of Shadows. Rā's had an air ship built and had high artillery weapons put on board which he planned to use to destroy Washington D.C. However, Rā's al Ghūl's plans were halted by Jonah Hex. With his air ship destroyed Rā's escaped and Duvall was captured by Hex. '''Batman : The Animated Series Off Balance '''Rā's al Ghūl continued to lead the Society of Shadows well into the twentith century. When Rā's discovered that Vertigo was a crule, sadistic person Rā's excommunicated him from the Society of Shadows. Upon this Vertigo formed his own off shot version of the Society of Shadows which he lead. When Rā's learned that Vertigo planned to steal Wayne Enterprise's new sonic drill he sent Talia to retrive it first. Talia failed at her mission and teamed up with Batman to recover the drill. Upon defeating Vertigo and recovering the drill Batman learned that Talia was a member of the Society of Shadows and she took the drill from Batman at gun point. As Talia escaped she called her father who ordered her to test the drill. When Talia fired the drill it short circuted because Batman sabatoget it. Rā's then ended his call with Talia and said that his business with Batman was not over. '''The Demon's Quest Part 1 & 2 By this time Rā's realized he was getting older and knew that he would soon need someone to take his place as leader of the Society of Shadows and fulfill his dreams of a balanced Earth. For this reason he chose Batman to take his place. Using Talia's description of Batman's true face (which she saw during their first meeting) and knowing that Batman must be wealthy in order to finance his all his high tech equipment Rā's discovered that Batman was really Bruce Wayne. Category:DC Animated Universe Category:Batman : The Animated Series Category:Superman : The Animated Series Category:Batman Beyond